In this rich and perceptive study of some of the most haunting fiction written in the late twentieth century, Beckett critic Enoch Brater continues his investigation of the tension between text and script, silence and associational sound. Brater argues with great learning that Beckett's fiction, like his radio plays, demands to be read aloud, since much of the emotional meaning lodges in its tonality. Here the rhythm of Beckett's "labouring heart" finds its performative voice as the reader, now turned listener, collaborates in the creation of a musical composition that must elucidate the stillness of the universe.
The Drama in the Text is a book about reciting and recounting, about how we know and what we know when we read a lyrical "text" crafted in prose but sounding like something else instead. Brater ranges across all of Beckett's work, quoting from it liberally, and makes connections mainly with other writers, but also with details drawn from the whole Western cultural heritage.
The only book that deals thoroughly with Beckett's complete late fiction, Brater's study opens to a wide literary audience the difficult and elliptical nature of Beckett's mature prose style. For those readers who find Beckett's late fiction "impossible to follow let alone describe," this book will be an authoritative and persuasive guide, providing recognition, insight, and accessibility.
Industry Reviews
"Bravo for a virtuoso performance, a real tour de force."--Edward Beckett
"The strength and importance of Beckett's acoustic materiality and performative tonality has never been so forcefully and so aptly analyzed before; we owe Brater a wealth of suggestions that must influence future readings of Beckett's works."--The Beckett Circle
"The Drama in the Text is a searching, sometimes lyrical work of scholarship and a lasting, original contribution to Beckett studies. The sections on the late trilogies are deep, lovely, and brilliant. Brater gives Beckett life on every page."--Ruby Cohn, University of California, Davis
"Brater makes an important and innovative contribution to Beckett studies."--Theatre Journal
"The Drama in the Text proves to be yet another significant achievement....Brater is an extremely engaging critic. His analyses, in this and the preceding volumes on Beckett, are immensely insightful, offering not only a staggering wealth of information (he is certainly among the best resources available) about a given text, but a most pleasurable-in-itself- key to the `pleasures of the text.'"--New Novel Review
"Bravo for a virtuoso performance, a real tour de force."--Edward Beckett
"The strength and importance of Beckett's acoustic materiality and performative tonality has never been so forcefully and so aptly analyzed before; we owe Brater a wealth of suggestions that must influence future readings of Beckett's works."--The Beckett Circle
"The Drama in the Text is a searching, sometimes lyrical work of scholarship and a lasting, original contribution to Beckett studies. The sections on the late trilogies are deep, lovely, and brilliant. Brater gives Beckett life on every page."--Ruby Cohn, University of California, Davis
"Brater makes an important and innovative contribution to Beckett studies."--Theatre Journal
"The Drama in the Text proves to be yet another significant achievement....Brater is an extremely engaging critic. His analyses, in this and the preceding volumes on Beckett, are immensely insightful, offering not only a staggering wealth of information (he is certainly among the best resources available) about a given text, but a most pleasurable-in-itself- key to the `pleasures of the text.'"--New Novel Review
"Reading it thoroughly is richly to re-encounter Beckett's texts anew. The insights come thick and fast, and you have to stay with Brater every step of the way."--
ournal of Beckett Studies
